To be completely honest, with the level of racism exhibited by Roberts with his comments regarding the Senate process following the confirmation of Justice Sotomayor, one has to wonder why Clarence voted with the Chief Justice nearly all the time. I don't recall him ever departing from siding with the Chief Justice vote. It is a 'sure' place to be. No one can argue he was a 'lone wolf' on anything. He certainly isn't close to being a Thurgood Marshall. That's for sure. And I believe the country expected that as well. We were looking for leadership from him and he gave us a sheep.
Justice Marshall lived in a different era from Thomas. He lived unafraid of being a judge that actually represented justice for minorities. He had many, many of the Justices of the Supreme Court that agreed with his decisions. That is not the case with Thomas. At all.
Oh, well.
...In a statement reported by NPR, Virginia Thomas said, "I did not give up my First Amendment rights when my husband became a justice of the Supreme Court. My involvement with LibertyCentral.orghas been vetted by the Supreme Court ethics office and Liberty Central's own board of directors. There have been many other judges who have spouses that are politically active."
The Supreme Court has no ethics office (click title to entry - thank you) as such, so we checked with the Court on what she meant. Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg responded that Mrs. Thomas had "reviewed her involvement with the Court's legal office."
The Court's little-known legal office was created by then-Chief Justice Warren Burger in 1972 to assist with Court legal matters in a sort of "house counsel" capacity. The office advises on matters including contracts, legislation, and litigation directed at the Court -- such as by protesters arrested in front of the Court. The office also works on some motions and case preparation, and advises on personnel and ethics matters.
The current Court counsel is Scott Harris, a former assistant U.S. attorney in D.C. and onetime associate at the firm then known as Wiley, Rein & Fielding.
